Bahraini Startup Wins Top Honours at Eureka! GCC Competition

Bahraini startup, My Gold Souq secured first place in the Eureka! GCC competition, beating ten other GCC-based startups for the honor. Eureka! GCC is the Gulf edition of one of Asia's largest business model competitions, Eureka!, founded by the Entrepreneurship Cell of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, one of the world's leading educational institutions.

My Gold Souq is the region’s first direct-to-consumer jewelry platform. The startup, which was among the top five winners of the first cohort of the Standard Chartered Women in Tech Incubation Program, and was incubated at Flat6Labs Bahrain, walked away with USD 25,000 in prize money to invest towards their business.

Tracer from the UAE took the second prize of USD 15,000, while Veehive.ai and Farmin, also UAE-based tech startups, secured third and fourth place, respectively, with prizes of USD 10,000 and USD 5,000.

The 10 finalists were shortlisted from over 150 applicants. All finalists were hosted for a four-day program in Dubai that included networking opportunities, pitch workshops, and a trip to Expo 2020. They underwent two months of extensive training before the glittering finale held at the Taj Exotica Resort & Spa at Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.

Now in its 23rd year, Eureka! offers aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to design solid business models, gain mentorship from renowned VCs and angel investors, and benefit from excellent networking opportunities and educational workshops. The GCC edition was sponsored by UAE-based Gulf Islamic Investments LLC (GII), one of the world’s leading Shari’ah-compliant financial services firms with more than USD 2 billion of assets under management.

Speaking at the event, GII Co-Founder and Co-CEO Mohammed Al-Hassan said, “The quality of the startups we have seen in this competition is inspiring, and I congratulate all the winners. Entrepreneurship is a creative and constructive pursuit which produces positive impacts, and we are pleased to support the region’s budding entrepreneurs through such programs.”

GII Co-Founder and Co-CEO Pankaj Gupta added, “It is a matter of pride for GII to be associated with such a prestigious institution as IIT Bombay via its Entrepreneurship Cell, and I would like to express my gratitude to their team; to GII team; and to the people who have worked so hard to make this event a success. The world is facing some of its biggest challenges ever, from climate change and environmental issues to human productivity and healthcare. Entrepreneurship, collaboration, and innovation hold the keys to solving these issues.”